News

Maine's donkey party loves the rich and the poor — but can't protect both

Two-faced Democrats
In the current legislative fight over Republican Governor Paul LePage's lust to slash Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) programs because of a $221-million shortfall in its budget, Democrats say over and over that they want to protect the poor, sick, and disabled people from whom the governor wants to withdraw state assistance.

By: LANCE TAPLEY | February 15, 2012

Camp closes; curfew passes; activism continues

Occupy Watch
Let's just say it: The first phase of OccupyMaine ended with a fizzle, not a bang. The showing at Friday's 10 pm deadline for Occupiers to be out of Lincoln Park was poor.

By: JEFF INGLIS | February 15, 2012

What they write about

The Maine Democratic Party's US Senate prospects
Thanks for coming to my power-point presentation.

By: AL DIAMON | February 15, 2012

Seeking redemption

Going green
Since 2006, CLYNK has been recycling bottles and cans at its South Portland plant (more than 270 million, according to the ticking counter on its website), allowing customers to accumulate balances in personal accounts that can be redeemed for cash or donated to education and charity organizations.

By: DEIRDRE FULTON | February 15, 2012

At union request, Sussman steps up for Press Herald

Cash Injections
It was not the owners of the Portland Press Herald who sought out Maine hedge-fund mogul S. Donald Sussman to proffer a cash infusion to save the ailing newspaper. Rather, it was the idea of the Press Herald 's unionized employees.

By: JEFF INGLIS | February 15, 2012

Gangs study killed

Lawmaker Apology
On February 9 the Legislature's Criminal Justice Committee, which had already informally decided against LD 1707, the bill that would have created severe penalties for people associated with criminal street gangs, killed a substitute proposal for a study to be done on how to define gangs and how to have police share information on them.

By: LANCE TAPLEY | February 15, 2012

Female poets step up to the mic

Could be verse
While down in Cambridge last August with a team of Portland poets for the semi-finals of the National Poetry Slam, Tricia Henley Pryce says, she never saw more than one woman up on stage at a time.

By: MEGAN GRUMBLING | February 08, 2012

As encampment fades, protest shifts back to core issues

Occupy Transition
Even as Portland city officials continue to pressure OccupyMaine to leave Lincoln Park, they have done the Occupation a great favor, perhaps unintentionally.

By: JEFF INGLIS | February 08, 2012

Building the perfect beast

America Elects
There are a few acceptable reasons for keeping your identity a secret.

By: AL DIAMON | February 08, 2012

Another way to run elections

Letters to the Portland Phoenix editor, February 10, 2012
Mainers now have the opportunity to participate in the first-ever national online primary that is open to everyone.

By: PORTLAND PHOENIX LETTERS | February 08, 2012

Will the next Keystone fight happen in New England?

Dirty business
We may have narrowly avoided Keystone XL (for now), but local environmental activists say that Maine and New England are not safe from "the dirtiest oil on earth," with a huge Canadian oil company seeking other routes to pump crude oil out of Alberta.

By: DEIRDRE FULTON | February 08, 2012

Question authority

Press Releases
Maine journalists appear to disbelieve their own eyes, decline to do their own research, and prefer to quote officials instead of relying on independent knowledge and experience.

By: JEFF INGLIS | February 08, 2012

Getting the Ron-around

Checking in with presidential hopeful Paul
While fellow Republican hopefuls Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum fight it out in Florida, Ron Paul, dark-horse candidate and Constitutional fundamentalist, sallied forth along his unorthodox campaign trail, hitting states with upcoming caucuses rather than primaries.

By: NICHOLAS SCHROEDER | February 01, 2012

Mega Up Yours

Your files could be forfeit in the government's attack on Megaupload. Can the Entertainment industry take down cyberlockers entirely?
This week, some 50 million users may begin to permanently lose whatever it is that they stored on Megaupload.

By: WAYNE MARSHALL | February 01, 2012

Magic power

Energy prices – and sources
A few months after the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, my wife and I were wandering around the eastern part of that city and came upon a little antique shop, where the last vestiges of the old Communist ways were slowly being flushed out, much to the owner's dismay.

By: AL DIAMON | February 01, 2012

End Black History Month

Diverse-city
It's that time again! Let's roll out the black history materials and talk about African-Americans as if most people really care about them, during the shortest month of the year.

By: SHAY STEWART-BOULEY | February 01, 2012

Anti-gang bill dumped

State House Switcheroo
After a January 27 public hearing featuring a rare insinuation by one legislator that a fellow lawmaker lied, Criminal Justice Committee members were ready to throw out LD 1707, a bill that piles heavy sentences onto people convicted of involvement with criminal street gangs.

By: LANCE TAPLEY | February 01, 2012

Citizens overwhelmingly support Occupy encampment

Occupy Watch
As OccupyMaine's request to stay in Lincoln Park is considered by a Maine judge, it appears the Portland City Council's decisions (which the judge is reviewing) were based more on individual councilors' views and less on constituent complaints than elected officials have let on.

By: JEFF INGLIS | February 01, 2012

Gambling 'the hardway'

Embedded in South Portland's seven-nights-a-week bingo hall
Let's start out by sharing how inauspiciously this adventure began — on a Tuesday evening, with both of us entirely bewildered by the South Portland Bingo Hall on John Roberts Road.

By: DEIRDRE FULTON AND NICHOLAS SCHROEDER | January 25, 2012